Comments on: How to go old-school psycho: St. Anthony’s Fire

By: Edward

Edward — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 23:56:15 +0000

Yep, definitely the stuff in LSD (might be in synthetic form though). Also, if I remember correctly, The Temptation of St. Anthony was used as a painting in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s “Breakfast of Champions”. It was a minimalist painting by a fellow named Rabo Karabekian. It wasn’t the same painting, of course – in the book it was a piece of tape on a colored canvas

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:00:34 +0000

The way I understand current theories of the Salem witch panic, the victims (”witches”) weren’t doing anything crazy. Ergotism may have played a role by convincing other folks in the community that they had been cursed, so they looked around for a source. They tended to point their fingers at women who owned property their neighbors coveted and who didn’t have strong family connections to protect them. Funny, that.

By: Allison

Allison — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 15:52:00 +0000

Sounds like fun . . . it reminds me somewhat of Dulle Griet, a painting by Pieter Brueghel in 16th century Belgium. Except, of course, it would be the opposite, with a bunch of village women attacking demons.

By: CHERYL HOYT

CHERYL HOYT — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:34:39 +0000

This was the major theme in Robin Cook’s book “Unacceptable Risk”.

By: John Dough

John Dough — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 06:01:18 +0000

I thought egrot caused St Vitus Dance not St Anthonys Fire.

By: ajadoniz

ajadoniz — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 02:28:32 +0000

Anthony is a trippy dude.

By: Miss Cellania

Miss Cellania — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 00:07:40 +0000

Ergot has been used as an abortificant for ages, maybe thousands of years. It takes skill to know how much is not too much.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:35:38 +0000

Isn’t rye ergot the base ingredient in LSD?

By: Lyssa

Lyssa — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:16:54 +0000

If you search for ergot on Damn Interesting.com, there’s an article on it and Salem….

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 19:39:27 +0000

Milica – from what I have read there was (allegedly) rye seed that had grown the ergot fungus. Evidence of this was found in Salem. The women were exposed to it and went bonkers thus acting like those in cahoots with the devil. Wish I could remember where I found the info!